Aussie tennis star who nearly never was

American giant killer Danielle Collins was the first woman through to the Australian Open semi-finals on Tuesday after a whirlwind victory over Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Collins paid for an over-aggressive approach in the first set as 44th-ranked Pavlyuchenkova remained unflustered to break the American's serve three times before taking the opener when her opponent sent a backhand wide.

The unseeded 25-year-old backed up her shock win over Angelique Kerber with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 triumph that left her facing the victor of Tuesday night's quarter-final between Ashleigh Barty and Petra Kvitova.

Sharapova: I think that's a silly question to ask.

"Yeah, for me, having that 18 months off was vital".

She retired and in 2014 made the stunning announcement that she would instead play professional cricket in Brisbane, preferring a team sport over tennis' gladiatorial ethos. Striking 39 on her first appearance in Twenty20 cricket, she clearly handles off-spin as confidently as she does topspin.

The two-time Wimbledon champion blazed her way into the quarter-finals with an emphatic straight sets win over 17-year-old Amanda Anisimova.

World number 35 Collins had never won a match at a Grand Slam in five previous attempts before arriving in Melbourne and putting three seeds to the sword on the way to the fourth round.

But Barty, roared on by raucous support at Rod Laver Arena, fought back to break twice in the second set and level the match as unforced errors crept into the Russian's game.

'Giving back to my community is very important to me and I hope to inspire many more Indigenous kids to get active and enjoy their tennis, ' she said.

"I was even thinking during the match that some of you guys stayed".

Asked for her thoughts on the crowd's reaction, Sharapova replied: "What do you want me to say to that question?" "You know, sitting down with my team late a year ago, it was one of the goals we set out that we wanted to go deep into slams, and I feel like that was the next step for me. I think every day I try and challenge myself to add another string to my bow".

They met on court as recently as last weekend in the Sydney International final, when the Czech Kvitova won via a tiebreaker in the third set. I was just trying, I couldn't find my rhythm. Being up 4-1, I had a chance to do that.

Jaded with the constant travel and loneliness of being on tour, as well as the pressure from Australian fans desperate for Grand Slam success, Barty decided tennis was not for her.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE...

RELATED NEWS

Spotify is testing an artist block feature
The service is now testing a block feature , which will be released on its updated iOS app, according to tech news site Thurrott . By clicking on the button found on an artist's main page, you can essentially mute them from your Spotify account. 1/22/2019

Arsenal ace out for up to nine months after rupturing ACL
"Sarri has probably thought he's an experienced guy, he's been around the block, and thinks he doesn't need to take it". A capitulation at Arsenal was the moment for Maurizio Sarri to unload pent-up frustration with his Chelsea squad . 1/22/2019

Virat Kohli Makes History With Clean Sweep of ICC Awards
Senior statesman Ross Taylor averaged 91 across 10 ODI innings past year , and was a shoo-in for the ICC one-day team. The 21-year-old Pant was picked by the ICC's voting academy for a stellar show in his breakthrough Test year in 2018. 1/22/2019

Rockets Trade Carmelo Anthony To The Bulls
The 10-time All-Star played just 10 games for Houston after signing a one-year, $2.4 million deal during the offseason. Finally! The Houston Rockets have found themselves a trade partner to unload Carmelo Anthony on. 1/22/2019

China’s birth rate falls to lowest ever since 1960
Interested in China? Add China as an interest to stay up to date on the latest China news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Last year, US President Donald Trump imposed tariff hikes of up to 25 per cent on Dollars 250 billion of Chinese goods. 1/22/2019

Yankees rumors: Team close to trading Sonny Gray?
The right-hander seemed to implode in every single appearance in the Bronx, pitching to a miserable 6.98 ERA at home. Gray, 29, is under contract with the Yankees for 2019, and is scheduled to make $7.5 million on his current deal. 1/22/2019

Rams' McVay knows PI call missed, but also saw Goff facemask
The Rams would then deliver the knockout blow with a massive 57-yard field goal to seal the game with a final score of 26-23. In both cases, it was the visiting teams coming out of the games with punched tickets to the Super Bowl . 1/22/2019

10 crew members dead after 2 cargo ships catch fire near Crimea
The fire broke out when one vessel was transferring fuel to the other, driving both crews to jump overboard, said Mr Kravchenko. Russian Federation has moved to seize the worldwide waterway following its annexation of the adjoining Crimea Peninsula in 2014. 1/22/2019

Mali: Ten UN peacekeepers killed in 'jihadist' attack
Ten UN peacekeepers from Chad have been killed in an attack by suspected Islamist militants in northern Mali, the UN says. Eight peacekeepers have so far been confirmed dead and several others were wounded, he added in a statement . 1/22/2019

Trump Visits Martin Luther King Memorial
Florida State 's football recruiting department issued an apology Monday after tweeting and subsequently deleting an image of Dr. The Reverend Al Sharpton speaks during the National Action Network Breakfast on January 21, 2019, in Washington, D.C. 1/22/2019

China population growth continued to slow in 2018
Officially China played down the slowdown saying that the country achieved its goal of around 6.5 percent GDP growth set for 2018. However, experts said China's main pressure comes from how to unleash the potential of its market via deepening economic reforms. 1/22/2019

Below-zero wind chills keeping central IN on ice
Today's high will only top out at -17 C - that's below the average low (-15.7 C) for this time of the year. With highs in the mid 30s to mid 40s by midday, most spots will end up in the 20s by 5pm. 1/22/2019